The worldwide moon sighting reports by members of the Islamic Crescents Observation Project (ICOP) since 1998 showed that Muslims across the world were fasting Ramadan and celebrating Eid over 4 to 5 days, instead of 1 or 2 days. It has been proven from reliable sources (e.g. Kordi, 2003) that the main cause of the Ramadan and Eid divisions across the whole world, such as in the UK/Europe and North America, were caused by the false moon sighting reports from Saudi Arabia as a result of their civil (Ummul Qura) calendar starting the months before the birth of the moon (New Moon Conjunction) or when the moon has set before the sun.

The above errors of Saudi Arabia were well-recognised by the Muslims of the UK at least a decade before the inception of ICOP and hence an International Moon Sighting Conference was held in London Central Mosque and the Islamic Cultural Centre (Regent’s Park Mosque) in 1984. This conference was attended by over 350 scholars from many Muslim countries around the world. The UK scholars included people from different schools of thoughts/maslak (e.g. Deobandi, Baralwi, Salafi etc) as well as the representative of Jamiat-e-Ulama Britain. They all unanimously agreed to naked eye moon sighting reports, which included the condition that any reports from abroad will only be accepted if the moon was on the UK horizon (i.e. moonset after sunset).

The agreed 1984 criteria closely matched moon sighting reports from the nearby countries to the UK, including Morocco. Unfortunately, members of Jamiat-e-Ulama and Hizbul Ulama found it difficult to follow the 1984 criteria in the following year and decided to abandon it by holding a meeting at Darul Uloom Bury in 1986, to follow Saudi Arabia instead (see UK Moon Sighting History). This meeting resolution was signed by all their delegates (i.e. 11 signatures from Jamiat-e-Ulama and 10 signatures from Hizbul-Ulama) as shown below.

All agreed decision of New Moon

All the Muslims of Britain will have the pleasure of hearing this that the Jamiat Ulama Britain and the Hizbul Ulama UK’s delegates held a meeting on 28th of December 1986 after Magrib prayer at Darul-Uloom Bury under the sadarat [chair] of Maulana Yusuf Motala Sahib and naib sadarat [vice chair] of Maulana Musa Karmadi Sahib about the New Moon in Britain. In this meeting both Jamats agreed after a lot of discussion under the Islamic Law that the New Moon in Britain will be based on “Saudis” New Moon. And then be decided about the dates of Ramadan, Eids and the Islamic Months. This agreement was passed by the undersigned delegates:

This resolution was widely publicised in their Mosque Noticeboards throughout the UK and the vast majority of the Muslim population were misguided by them to follow Saudi Arabia. They continue to do so over past 30 years, even with numerous independent evidences of false moon sighting reports from Saudi Arabia.

The recent publication in The Observatory Journal (Alrefay et al, 2018) with 27 years of moon sighting reports from Saudi Arabia by highly experienced astronomers also prove the past errors of announcements made by the Saudi Supreme Court. Therefore, the resolution of 1986 Darul Uloom Bury meeting to follow Saudi Arabia is proven to be false/invalid, due to the widespread misunderstanding of these technical matters. We urge all right-minded Muslims to avoid following news from distant countries (such as Saudi Arabia), and adopt local (or regional) moon sighting instead, as reported to our ICOUK.net website (see Moon -> Observation Results).

The moon sighting locations map below is for evaluation purposes. If you have visited any of the locations (or found a new one), please email us via our on-line Contact Us form and we will update it, InshaAllah. Please see disclaimer below.

Instructions

(1) Zoom into your area and click on the blue location icon(2) Click on the red direction-arrow to visit your location

Compiled by Hidayatullah Patel, updated by Qamar Uddin (July 2019)

Disclaimer

The above location data is provided for your own convenience in good faith, to be used entirely at your own risk. The compilers of the data do not accept any responsibility or liability arising from the possible loss or damage caused by the use of the data. Furthermore, you undertake to be fully responsible for your own safety and that of others in your group (if any).

You are advised to visit the location during daylight hours prior to the actual date of observation to note the sunset position and any other safety issues.

Some locations may not be suitable for children or elderly (or other vulnerable adults), especially during the darkness after sunset. Group travel is always advisable (to include at least two adults) for your own safety and for verification of the observation report.

The first day’s youngest crescent moon (Hilal) appears from different places on the earth each month, moving from east to west, as well as from south to north. Looking at the predicted crescent visibility maps for a whole year, it can be seen that from the start of 1439 AH the first day's Hilal appears on the northern hemisphere in majority of months.

When the moon is in the northern hemisphere, it is possible to sight the Hilal from the UK horizon, if people make an effort to sight it (weather permitting). However, it should be noted that the lunar year has approximately 6 months that are 29-days and 6-months that are 30-days (in different combinations), which means we should not expect to sight the Hilal on every 29th day!

The predicted date in 1441 AH (2019 - 2020) when the moon is expected to be sighted on the UK horizon are given below, which may be 29th or the next day (i.e. 30th or 1st lunar date):

Observation Dates (for month)

Observation Dates (for month)

31/08/201930/09/2019 - a day after Morocco29/10/201928/11/2019 - a day after Morocco27/12/201926/01/2020

25/02/2020 - a day after Morocco25/03/202024/04/202024/05/2020 - a day after Morocco22/06/202022/07/2020 - a day after Morocco*

*Astronomy Challenge: spot the Dhul Hijjah Hilal in the UK on 21 July 2020 using binoculars/telescopes (Yallop Code B/C)

To make a successful sighting of the Hilal (even if cloudy), it is necessary to plan the observation effectively with the following considerations in mind:

Identify a high location where the western horizon can be easily seen (down to ground/sea level)

Make a note of the sunset position on a clear day with respect to the landscape a few days earlier

Use the Internet or Mobile Phone Apps to note the sunset and moonset times for the location

On the above dates, look for the Hilal close to the sunset position between the above setting times

Try to use a suitable Mobile Phone App (eg. GPS Compass) to find the direction in cloudy weather

After your observation submit your result on our website (positive or negative), so it can be taken into consideration by the UK Ulama when making a decision for the start of the new month, InshaAllah.

The Darul Uloom Al-Arabiyyah Al-Islamiyyah, also known as Darul Uloom Bury is one of the oldest Islamic seminary (Muslims College) of its kind in the UK, which was established in 1973 by Maulana Yusuf Motala (حفظه الله). It is a boarding school for about 375 students (12 – 23 years old), to attend it’s 6 years Alim (Darse-e-Nizami) course. The vast majority of the students are from the UK residents of Asian parents, who subscribe to the Hanafi (Deobandi) Maslak and is connected to the Dawah & Tabligh efforts. It is estimated that a significant portion of the Imams in the UK mosques have been produced by this seminary, which is a great contribution to the religious needs of the UK Muslim communities, alleviating the need to import Imams from abroad.

The Darul Uloom Bury has always been a proponent of following Moon Sighting news from Saudi Arabia when the UK Muslims split from following Morocco in 1986 (see the History of UK following Saudi Arabia). In the early years of the split, the errors of Moon Sighting news from Saudi Arabia was not known so following Saudi Arabia was more of a convenience rather than a necessity for the UK Muslims. It was not until 1998 when ICOP (an International Moon Sighting volunteer group) was formed, who shared the monthly moon sighting news via the Internet, the obvious errors of Saudi Arabia news became very apparent, as stated below.

On Wednesday 17 March 1999, the New Moon Conjunction was at 18:48 GMT (21:48 Saudi LT). The Bolton (Bury) sunset was at 18:16 GMT and moonset was at 17:57 GMT. The Makkah sunset was at 18:31 LT and moonset was at 18:18 LT. This means the moon was not even born until after both Makkah and Bolton sunset; and had gone below the horizon before the sunset of both places. As a result, the moon was impossible to be sighted anywhere in the world on that date. Yet, Saudi Arabia claimed the sighting of the moon earlier in the day (3.5 hrs before it was born) followed by 8 Darul Uloom Bury students (0.5 hr before it was born)! See link https://goo.gl/UH7WB6

MOON SIGHTING TESTIMONY

On Wednesday the 17th of March 1999, seven of my colleagues and I were instructed by the principal of Darul-Uloom Bury, Maulana Yusuf Motala to attempt to sight the moon. We left the Madressah at 5.50 pm to climb the local Holcombe Hill upon which Peel Tower is situated. We reached the top at 6.05 pm and situated ourselves at the highest points in two different places. The sky was clear at the time of sunset and we managed to sight the moon at 6.30 pm. The moon remained visible for at least three to five minutes before we lost sight of it. The students who sighted the moon are:

Rashid Ahmed Esakjee, Age: 27

Imran Mulla, Age: 20

Shabbir Mulla, Age: 22

Mahmood Miah, Age: 20

Shakir Pandor, Age: 21

Ismail Badat, Age: 22

Shahzad Khan; Age: 21

Zainul Abedin Yakub, Age: 22

Note: It is the duty of the Hilal Committees to establish the truth without blaming the witnesses for their errors [or innocent mistakes].

Many moon sighing experts are well aware that the news from Saudi Arabia is influenced by their pre-calculated Ummul Qura calendar, biasing the witnesses towards it and hence they made an improvement in 2004 (which eventually came into effective from 2012). This improvement has shifted their Hijri date closer to predicted visibility for some months, but not all. [see Saudi Dating System, New Criteria]

Unfortunately, the scholars of Darul Uloom Bury have not changed their position from following Saudi Arabia over past 30 years and do not examine the accuracy/validity of reports required by Shariah. And, since their students are the Imams of many UK Mosques, the division/split at Ramadan and two Eids continues year-after-year on an ongoing basis.

Therefore, our ICOUK members would like to request the scholars of Darul Uloom Bury to review their moon sighting position and consider adopting the Regional Moon Sighting Criteria for the UK (https://goo.gl/JtRUiw), which has been proven to work satisfactorily under the UK adverse weather conditions over many years.